I've been considering a Dell Inspiron with Pentium dual core, with 4 GB DDR2, and 320G HD. Do you guys think this would be enough to operate a photo editing program?

That sounds like a fine system. The processor and RAM are decent and should have no problems editing your RAW files. It would be nice if you could get a larger hard drive as I found that my 250 GB hard drive was filling up fast. 500 GB drives are fairly cheap these days, so I'd suggest you go for that.

If you have cash to spare, buy an external hard drive. If not, what I usually do it back up my photos to DVDs. It takes about 20 minutes and 2 DVDs to back up everything that's on my 8 GB CF card. The advantage of this is that you'll always have a back up handy if your hard drive or your external hard drive crashes.

Only inefficient Operating systems are asking for more and more. I am working on Power Mac G4 (an old machine) with processor speed of 667 MHz (less than a 1GHz) and RAM 768 MB (note, again less than 1 GB) and sometimes I am working on files like 50- sometimes 100 MB with no problem. Well, more RAM is not bad but not the only. Working and knowing both systems (at office I am on PC) can say that the World could be a better place without Windows.

The OS overhead is probably a lot less than you think. The often mis-perceived disadvantage with windows performance usually lies with bloated third party software installs. For example, my work laptop is much less responsive than my personal laptop, yet the work one is higher spec. The typical corporate software package load is so much more bloated...

As for processing power, it depends on what you do. Minor tweaks never have and never will take much processing. As more functionality is added to software, you will start to need more power. At least with current ram prices there is no reason to skimp there.

Computers and cars have in common that they are great devices when they work the way they are supposed to and become infuriating contraptions the moment they don't.

A few remarks.

Most importantly perhaps. I understand the old computer can't be used at the moment and you seem to think that photos stored on its hard disk are now lost to you. Well.... they're not.

For the moment I have no reason to assume that they are not on that hard disk anymore so I assume they are. That means that even if you would never be able to get that computer working again you could simply take the HD out of that system and connect it to basically any other computer, new or currently in your possession, and you should be able to access those photos again.

Secondly. Without knowing what the 'symptoms' are I couldn't give a definitive answer to the question whether your old computer has gone to digital heaven or is just a bit sickly but if I were you I wouldn’t write it off yet. I have been active for a period on a forum dedicated to solving computer problems and I can tell you most problems can be solved. With the right information!!! Any defective component can be replaced. That's one of the very nice aspects of such a modular system as the PC. And you basically don't need much more than a screwdriver to do it.

Unfortunately being a 'professional' only means that you let people pay you for what you do. It doesn't necessarily mean you actually are an expert in the field. So when the people from that shop you brought your computer to say "it's the processor" I'm not yet convinced that it is. Unless they broke it themselves. And I have good reasons to have such reservations.

So if besides salvaging your hard disk you would also want to give salvaging your computer a try then you should start by describing what happened and what it does and doesn't do. We'll take it from there. Maybe all it needs is a minor repair or even just a bit of TLC. Then you will be able to get that photographic gear instead of a new computer.

Yes, I know they are still on the disc in all probablility. However, to get them off, I have to purchase a duplicate hard drive like in the machine, plus a small hard drive to put the OS on, and from what my Microsoft friend told me, he can possibly do a low level recovery, by mirroring the original HD,but if not, it would be sent to a "clean room", for a huge amount of money. Something like $5000. I said uh, forget it. I'm going to go pick up the system tomorrow, and if I ever do decide I want to go that route it will still be in my possession.

Is Mac difficult to learn? The computer expert where I live said if I am used to Windows, that it will take a long time for me to learn Mac.

_________________Sony Alpha 700, Minolta 70-210 f/4 and some other stuff

Ben, I forgot to describe what it was doing. When I would try to restart it, I would get a message on a black screen in DOS, press ALT, CTL, DELETE to restart, when I would do that it would take me to the white screen with the Microsoft Windows graffics, pause for a few seconds, then take me back to the DOS screen. The f8 on this computer took you to set up, not a safe mode menu. It did this 3 seperate times, and went to the computer technicians, and they had to reload the OS and Office, then I had to reload my DSL, printer, and all my software, reconfigure my email, etc. A big hassel, as it took all day. They said at first a new virus was deleting the partition. I told them it was not a virus, as I had 2 anti-virus programs, a mal-ware program, and Windows Defender on it. So they reloaded it again, but said it was taking 3-5 minutes when clicking start to bring up the menu. However, they said the platters weren't clicking, so it was the CPU.

_________________Sony Alpha 700, Minolta 70-210 f/4 and some other stuff

People deleting Windows and/or formatting partitions, or even worse formatting entire hard disks thereby deleting all data don't do so because they know what they are doing (because they KNOW what the problem is) but because they have no idea what they are doing because they have NO IDEA what the problem is. It is the 'Quick Fix' option used by people who have far too little knowledge about computers. It is an action not based on knowledge but based on ignorance. Which is fine if you are an average consumer of course but it is toe-clenchingly bad when you claim to be a professional.

If these people have formatted your entire disk thereby deleting your photos that is simply inexcusable. And you only use a clean room when you need to open either a seriously defective hard disk that you cannot access normally anymore or you need to use specialised equipment to retrieve valuable data that has been erased and even overwritten because with the right equipment you can retrieve data that has been overwritten. But then we are talking about seriously valuable data or forensic investigations here. From what you describe I have no reason to suspect a serious, or even any problem with your hard disk. And all you need to do to access that drive is to connect it as an extra (second) drive to another computer. No duplicate drives or any of that. You could even simply put it in en external USB enclosure and attach it to any computer and all data still on it should be accessible that way.

The question is whether these people have indeed formatted your entire drive or not. That will determine whether it will still be possible to access your photos. It can depend on how it was partitioned. Did you have only a single C: drive or also other partitions indicated by letters D,E, etc.? Any optical drive(s) (CD or DVD) will also have a drive letter assigned. If you only had a C: drive indicating your hard disk and a D: drive indicating your optical drive and nothing more then there is a serious risk these people may have deleted your data when it was completely unnecessary and they could have (and should have) copied it to any other storage medium with very little effort.

Do I now understand correctly that you have used the computer again after they had reinstalled Windows? Were you able to ascertain that the photo's were no longer on the hard disk? Do you know in which folder they were located and that this folder wasn't there any more? If that is the case then there is still a chance your photos can be recovered but it will be more troublesome. But there are utilities that can scan an entire drive for any files that can still be recovered. It will depend on the formatting method that was used if indeed it was formatted. If they used a Quick Format there is still a chance but if they used a Full Format then it becomes MUCH more difficult. Then you are getting into the realms of clean rooms and fancy equipment as described. You should ask them what EXACTLY they have done with your hard disk. Ask them to describe it in an e-mail they can send you. And ask them if they formatted it. And if so what utility they used and with which settings/parameters and/or how long the formatting process took.

From what you describe the PC still does it is clear this is not a 'dead' PC. It could be simply badly seated RAM modules or a defective RAM module, which can be tested and fixed/replaced. Or a cooling problem. Or a dusty or indeed close to failing PSU (Power Supply Unit). All kind of things can go wrong when a PSU starts to go bad. This can even happen when for instance you upgrade to a faster graphics card that needs more power and you PSU is not powerful enough to supply that increased demand. You didn't make such a change/upgrade recently by any chance? Or even a while back? An overtaxed PSU can in time become unstable. Or it can be just a badly written driver or..... Lots of things. But a lot can be determined if you know where to look and take the trouble to look! But "So it is the CPU".....? Oh boy!

Computers and cars have in common that they are great devices when they work the way they are supposed to and become infuriating contraptions the moment they don't.

A few remarks.

Most importantly perhaps. I understand the old computer can't be used at the moment and you seem to think that photos stored on its hard disk are now lost to you. Well.... they're not.

For the moment I have no reason to assume that they are not on that hard disk anymore so I assume they are. That means that even if you would never be able to get that computer working again you could simply take the HD out of that system and connect it to basically any other computer, new or currently in your possession, and you should be able to access those photos again.

Secondly. Without knowing what the 'symptoms' are I couldn't give a definitive answer to the question whether your old computer has gone to digital heaven or is just a bit sickly but if I were you I wouldn’t write it off yet. I have been active for a period on a forum dedicated to solving computer problems and I can tell you most problems can be solved. With the right information!!! Any defective component can be replaced. That's one of the very nice aspects of such a modular system as the PC. And you basically don't need much more than a screwdriver to do it.

Unfortunately being a 'professional' only means that you let people pay you for what you do. It doesn't necessarily mean you actually are an expert in the field. So when the people from that shop you brought your computer to say "it's the processor" I'm not yet convinced that it is. Unless they broke it themselves. And I have good reasons to have such reservations.

So if besides salvaging your hard disk you would also want to give salvaging your computer a try then you should start by describing what happened and what it does and doesn't do. We'll take it from there. Maybe all it needs is a minor repair or even just a bit of TLC. Then you will be able to get that photographic gear instead of a new computer.

Ben_________________When in doubt..... Press the shutter.

good stuff, i actually took my brother's comp to some computer repair people, "professionals", and after hearing what was wrong with it and seeing what the screen was doing, they decided that the mother board was bad, and it would be cheaper to just buy a new computer. wanting to have nothing to do with that, i slapped an old video card in the comp to see if thats what was really wrong and vwalla. worked. then i just had to get an awesome card and replace the psu for that gaming desktop to be back in working order.